John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

The Deputy does not have to shout in order to make his points. We can all make valid points without shouting across the Chamber at one another. It is true to say that dereliction is a really important issue. It is not one that local authorities or Government are ignoring. The Deputy knows full well because we both sat on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage all of the measures that are in place to assist those. They include the vacant property refurbishment grant, buy and renew, repair and lease and CPO. The Government provided local authorities with €150 million to allow them to CPO properties. We do need to see more local authorities activating such sites and they do have obligations in this respect. Where levies are levied, when the unit is ultimately disposed of, those moneys are collected by the local authority. There is an onus on local authorities to place properties on the register. The Deputy should not dismiss that. The approach involves using the carrot and the stick. What we all want in this Chamber is to see those units brought back into productive use.

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